Reality
by onlyonechairleft
Summary: Rachel and Jacob sit down to talk- and she sees a few things for the first time.


Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. If I did… well, Bella wouldn't have existed beyond Twilight, probably. And Ed-weird would have been eaten by wolves.

* * *

Rachel had been home for weeks before her brother came to talk to her. He'd run away, she knew, heartbroken over Bella Swan and her unnatural attraction to vampires. He hadn't been home when she'd arrived, fresh from college to visit for a few weeks before starting a new job in Seattle. That dream was gone, replaced by a six foot three, brown eyed werewolf who answered to Paul. Jacob _hated_ Paul. Paul _hated_ Jacob. That predated her, she knew, but her new relationship certainly hadn't helped. They couldn't stay in the same room without one of them phasing, it seemed. Usually Paul.

Jacob, shockingly, was actually the more mature of the two. It was a fact she didn't like to linger on- Paul was so important to her; she loved him so much. But that didn't stop her from realising that, if it hadn't been for imprinting, she would never have looked at him twice. She would never have risked it, getting tied to the Rez. Absolutely not. But, that reality was over. Paul was her reality now.

And Jacob had asked her to meet him, alone, to talk, for the first time since she'd come home. It was hard, seeing him. He was all grown up, and barely seventeen at the same time. She'd missed so much, run so far away and refused to look back- limiting their relationship to bi-weekly telephone calls and missing so much of his life. Her heart ached, realising what she'd missed. He was sitting at the kitchen table, dwarfing it with his sheer size.

"What's up, Jake?" She sat down opposite him, surprised by the serious look on his face.

"We can't let Becca come home." His words made her immeasurably sad- another thing she'd been avoiding thinking about.

"I know."

"She'll want to, now that you're here." Those words stung more, reminding her of how neglectful they'd both been toward their family. She should have come home more. They both should have. She'd missed Harry's funeral, for God's sake. She was right to be ashamed of that.

"I know. I'll figure something out." She bit back tears, swallowing the lump in her throat.

They might be trapped- Jacob and her, but Becca was _free_, and neither of her siblings wanted to ruin that for her.

"She'll probably be safe after she has kids. I don't think the imprint thing works on people with kids."

"Huh?" That was the first she'd heard of that. "Who told you that?" He blushed, embarrassed.

"No-one told me Rachel. I have a brain, you know? I don't spend all day chasing my tail." He didn't spend it in school either, but that was a fight for her father to have and he didn't seem interested. Billy had muttered something about priorities and she'd been forced to accept it, even if it physically hurt her to see him throw his education away.

"Anyway- Claire's mom, Emily's sister, Annie. It would have made as much sense for Quil to imprint on her as on Claire, but he didn't. No-one did. So, I think it's a babies thing." A fleeting thought of whether imprinting was a _virgin_ thing struck her- running quickly through the girls who had been imprinted on- Kim; Emily; Claire, all of who were virgins when their wolves had imprinted. She blushed, suddenly, adding herself to the list. _She _was the exception to that rule. Back to the mother thing, definitely.

"You might be right. We'll just have to get Becks to get knocked up so she can come home." Jake snorted a laugh and shook his head.

"That's just as bad- trapping her with a kid instead of trapping her in the Rez? How is that any better?" He was half-kidding, she could hear it in his voice. He turned serious again, his voice low and quiet. "Paul is one thing, Rach, but Seth? Embry? One of the younger ones?" He shook his head slowly. "I just can't see it happen to both of you."

And then, the switch flipped and he was no longer sad, but _angry_ and, for the first time, Rachel saw what Paul saw- an Alpha wolf, trapped in a subservient role. For all that Sam claimed Jacob was his Beta, Rachel knew it wasn't true. Sam listened to Jared, to Paul. Not Jacob. She knew, suddenly, that _this_ was what Paul was afraid of- the Alpha wolf that Jacob _is_, deciding to take control. Her insight shocked her- Jacob Black would be Alpha. He would be Chief of their people.

He would never, ever, get to leave La Push.

Her tears killed his anger, and he placed an awkward arm around her shoulder, holding her close to his chest.

"It's okay Rach, you'll see her again" She couldn't tell him she was crying for him, not Becks. "You can always visit her, you know? Maybe bring Paul with you? Leave him there?" She couldn't help it- she giggled, relieved that her light-hearted, good-humoured little brother was still in there, somewhere.

"It's okay Jake. I'm okay." She forced herself to meet his eyes, seeing the wolf lingering there and dropping her gaze to the table, quickly. "She won't come home. I'll make sure of it."

His voice was pure-Alpha when he spoke again, the timbre lower than she remembered, mimicking Sam's when he issued Commands.

"Don't let her, Rachel. Do whatever you have to, just keep her away from here." She wasn't pack; he wasn't even Alpha. But the tingle of command flowed down her spine, all the same. Becks couldn't come home. She would see to it.


End file.
